text; un: goaskalice

[royalpassport]

We're all stories. Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine.

(Preferably over tea.)

Don't forget to start with "Once upon a time..."

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[royalpassport]

[ Jefferson reads the story presented to him, leaning forward and looking at the screen with keen interest. A Western! He's never been to any time or place like the American West, only seen it in movies. ]

And you said you couldn't tell stories. You're a natural.

What happened next?

[ He's curious where this fellow fits in. Which role does he play now... ]

[billyrocks]

You flatter me.

The leader of the seven was a peace officer, and his crew consisted of a cocky gambler, a mountain man, a vaquero, a Cajun sharpshooter, a man from the Far East who wielded knives, and a Comanche warrior.

Though they were only seven, they fought three times as much, but even that wouldn't be enough, so they trained the people of Rose Creek to fight for themselves. The young widow who lead the search for hired help was determined to fight, refusing to just hide away with the rest of the women and children, but she proved to be a great shot. They even set traps around the town, from man-made mine fields to hidden weapons and everything in between.

The mining tycoon had hired several mercenaries, but the Seven and the townsfolk persisted.

[He's just going to leave out the part where Goody left, not wanting to give the wrong impression that he was a coward. Because in the end, Goody was anything but.]

However, the enemy had a secret weapon on their side that no one saw coming, a Gatling gun.

[royalpassport]

I've been known to do that on occasion.

[ WINK.

And this... this is what Jefferson loves about stories. A motley group coming together, standing up and fighting against a tyrant... It's not the sort of thing Jefferson, himself, would ever involve himself in (that's why he was a thief, not a hero), but it's that common thread of humanity that's present everywhere, in every land. Just as easily, this could happen in the Enchanted Forest, in Agrabah, in Camelot, in Oz, and so on.

For all the different rules and customs of the many lands he's visited, people are pretty much the same, on some level. Knowing that, keeping it in mind, it helped him to get by in his travels. ]

A gatling gun? That's the one that shoots really fast, isn't it?

[ His knowledge of these things can be a bit spotty. ]

If this ends in everyone getting slaughtered...

[ After the, uh, 28+ years he's had living under the curse, and the torturous time in Wonderland, before that, Jefferson really needs to hear a story where the good guys actually win, okay. ]

[billyrocks]

[Billy's never really had the chance to look at the last moments of his life as though through a storybook, but now that he has, it really does sound like something one might hear out of an epic tale. He's not sure whether to think of that as a good thing or not, but he continues with his narrative.]

Damn right it does. All you have to do is crank the handle and it spits out a storm of bullets everywhere it faces.

[Not that he's ever handled one himself, but Goody told him stories of its fearsome power during the war and then he saw it for himself at Rose Creek.]

No one knows how the story ends, actually. I arrived here before I could see the battle's conclusion, but I do know for certain that two of the seven perished. Possibly three.

[Faraday wasn't looking so good yet he decided to make a charge towards the Gatling gun anyway. (And Billy had no idea that Jack was already dead, therefore making the count "possibly four" instead.)

It sure as hell wasn't easy at first, but Billy was now at a point where he could start mentioning that he died before coming to the Quarantine, though not without a lingering sense of dread still clutching weakly to his throat every time. But it happened. He accepted it now.]